There are a lot of true crime buffs. We all know a few. Some are fascinated by the more bizarre, the murders with strange sex twists. Others dwell on the pathos, abducted kids and murdered spouses. The media is filled with stories and these stories as small in scope as they sometimes are will often take priority over more major events. People are fascinated by what gets to them emotionally, more than what gets to them intellectually. This has been proven time and time again.
For me, I prefer the business section for my true crime stories. Nary a day seems to go by when there isn’t some article about people being arrested for one scam or another. Most often they victimize people with the Ponzi scheme, promising big returns and then using Peter’s money to pay Paul. Until they are caught. They then make headlines where it is reported they have lived a lavish lifestyle on investors’ money and all the promised returns are as bogus as the business plan.
There are any number of wire fraud cases, SEC infractions, chicanery, stock frauds, stock option and securities frauds. Recently the Los Angeles Times reported an Orange County Salesman was ordered to repay $66 million to investors in a securities scam. James Halstead was indicted on 16 counts and has denied any wrongdoing. A few years ago Santa Barbara’s own Reed Slatkin defrauded fellow investors in the largest Ponzi scheme in history. He was sentenced to 14 years for that.
One wonders how these scam artists keep getting away with what are essentially the same scams in different packaging. You would think with so many of these cases making headlines, the investors would run background checks on these guys. You think, before turning over what is usually a substantial sum, they would do the research and see if these people are who they really say they are. They would look deeper and review the financial histories of these characters, measure their successes, if any. They would ask around and see if these guys were reputable. No, it doesn’t happen. They ask their friends who are taken in by the same line of bull as they believed.
In the case of Slatkin, a simple check on at least one of his cohorts would reveal previous criminal histories for financial fraud. If you look deeper into the other characters you will most often find it is a good sales game supported by hype supported by nothing. And then the victims all get on the news for their lost millions to tell their tales of woe. Inevitably, there is one character who has dumped his life savings into the scam. To get nothing back. Well, they do say buyer beware and you can’t cheat an honest man, and all sorts of things that lead you to believe that greed often gets in the way of a clear vision.
There are ways to research people, before you invest your hard earned cash. There are background searches for business research and for potential venture partnerships. Take advantage of these searches. The money you save could be your own.
